The star of Argentina Lionel Messi drove early Sunday morning to Inter Miami is on its way to the first title in its history after defeating Nashville in a wide penalty shootout (10-9) that defined the Leagues Cup final, tied 1 to 1 at the end of regulation time.
The Argentine scored the goal for the Florida franchise in 23 minutes of the first half and the local team reached parity 12 minutes into the second half through Fabrice-Jean Picault, with the goalkeeper’s complicity. Drake Callender, showing two blocks in quick definition.
Leo Messi scored the first goal of the series and wildly celebrated his victory means the 44th. title in his professional career, a number that consolidates him as the most successful football player in the world of all time.
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The Argentine achieved this feat only a month after his arrival in the United States and with a central role shown in statistics. He was the top scorer in the competition with ten goals in seven games and scored in every game.
The conquest of Inter Miami, a club founded at the beginning of 2018, was celebrated enthusiastically by the British box David Beckham, one of the co-owners with the Cuban businessman Jorge Mas Canosa.
Messi, chosen as MVP of the Leagues Cup, has been a decisive player in all the teams he has played for, but in this Inter Miami that condition is very evident due to his high level of energy every time he takes part in the game.
Messi’s great goal
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The first 23 minutes of the final were in favor of the dedicated team of Nashville, which was able to reduce its opponent’s handling of the ball, while looking for dangerous spaces to reach Drake Callender’s goal.
Messi went through that phase of the game with remarkable passivity, walking along the central strip of the field and only speeding up the pace to create a break every time his team regained possession.
As a predator waiting for his chance to take full control, Messi picked up a ball in the attack in the 23rd minute, outlined himself by moving his spinning left foot and took an inside shot from the semicircle where Elliot Panicco hit the top. right corner.
The ability to change the course of a game at will is seen again in front of an audience that, surprised by the size of the number 10 wearing pink, lowered its intensity in the stands.
Messi raises a glass, chapter 44
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With the score 1-0, The game entered a stalemate due to the impact of the local team and the peace it implies for visiting and gaining the necessary advantage to achieve the goal. All that is expected is another bright appearance of the star.
The second half goes in the same vein until Nashville reached parity with a stopped ball that was poorly defended by Miami. The ball crossed the entire six yard area, Fabrice-Jean Picault headed it to the far post and goalkeeper Drake Callender ended up putting it involuntarily with one leg.
The face of Messi’s disappointment after the equalizer also shows his feeling for an unsatisfactory collective performance relies on his genius, which He almost made history with a left-footed shot that hit the post in the 26th minute.
Photo: AFP.
With his opponent in better physical and emotional health, Martino turned to the substitute bench to renew his energy. The team, however, did not find a line in the game and only wanted to put Messi in a favorable position to finish the goal.
packing After half-time added on, Callender avoided Nashville’s second with a brace against Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar. And in the last minutes, the local team was close to the goal that Leonardo Campana also wasted for Inter Miami in the last game of the night.
Loss criminal then, is the inevitable way to deciding the champion and after a tense round, where all the players who ended up on the field kicked, Inter Miami achieved the dream champion.
Photo: AFP.
Synthesis
Nashville: Elliot Panicco; Shaquell Moore, Walker Zimmerman, Lukas MacNaughton and Daniel Lovitz; Alex Muyl, Dax McCarty, Aníbal Godoy and Fabrice-Jean Picault; Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar. DT: Gary Smith.
Inter Miami: Drake Callender; DeAndre Yedlin, Sergey Kryvtsov, Kamal Miller and Jordi Alba; Dixon Arroyo, Sergio Busquets and Benjamín Cremaschi; Lionel Messi, Josef Martínez and Robert Taylor. DT: Gerardo Martino.
Goals in the first half: 23 m. Messi (Me).
Goal in the second half: 12m. Picault (N).
Changes in the second part: 23 m. Leonardo Campana for Martínez and Diego Gomez for Cremaschi (IM); 26 m. Jacob Shaffelburg for Picault and Sean Davis for McCarty (N); 35m. David Ruiz for Taylor and Víctor Ulloa for Arroyo (IM) and 36m. Randall Leal for Muyl (N).
Meaning through punishments, they converted: Messi, Busquets, Campana, Miller, Kryvtsov, Jordi Alba, Gómez, Ruiz, Yedlin, Callender (IM); Mukhtar, Godoy, Zimmerman, Surridge, Moore, Lovitz, MacNaughton, Davis, Shaffelburg (N). Callender (IM) blocks a shot by Leal (N). Panicco (N) blocks the shot of Ulloa (IM) and his shot misses.
Be warned: Godoy (N);
referee: Ismail Elfath (United States).
THIS: Oscar Macías Romo (Mexico).
State: Geodis Park (Nashville, Tennessee.
